Day #8

It's 9:45 at night, the kids are asleep, and Ben and I are getting ready to hit the sack. And yet, we haven't had our gratitude post for today. Although I could cheat and post in the morning for today, I feel the need to do a family gratitude post tonight about something we can all agree on.

Today our family is grateful for... one another.


About 15 months ago our little family (including a 6-week old baby) picked up and moved halfway across the country for Ben's new job. We had never been to Oklahoma, didn't have family or friends in Oklahoma, and (despite our best efforts) didn't have a place to live in Oklahoma when we got here. Was it hard? You betcha. Was it exciting? Sometimes. But mostly it was just exhausting.

We have missed our South Carolina family and friends. We still miss them. We miss Sunday nights at Noni & Papa's house. I miss the friends I could have lunch with, making day-trips to Summerville to visit Becky, and the girl's nights with sisters and moms. I miss short-notice camping trips with Gwen, knowing what restaurants were good and affordable, and my fabulous mechanic. And I know that Ben misses his man-dates with Mike. Olivia and Kelsey miss their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, and story-time at the library. And we all miss the cheese dip at San Jose Restaurant. Connor doesn't know what he's missing - he was too young when we moved - so Ben and I miss it for him. We miss Christmas Eve at my mom's, Christmas Day at Ben's parents with Mike's fried turkey, and Thanksgiving at Grandma Gin's house. And as the holidays roll around we miss you guys that much more all over again.

But oh, how much more we love each other here. Now that our little family is away from the rest of our extended family, we cling together that much more tightly.

We love snuggling on the couch watching movies, tickle fights with Daddy, early morning cuddles with Mommy when the girls sneak into our bed after Ben's gotten up for work. We love family walks and trips to the dog park and Sunday morning breakfasts. The girls love playing "horses" with each other, and playing games with Mommy, and reading together. Everyone loves kissing on Connor, and he loves it too. We love each other. And most of the time, we even like each other, too. We are very blessed.

Yes, today we are grateful for each other.